Behind Smiles and Hot Chocolate
by The Missing Fangirl
Summary: Annabeth enters the nearest coffee shop and finds a charming barista working there. But is everything the way she thinks they are?


**DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Heroes of Olympus, Percy Jackson & the Olympians or any of the wonderful books created by Rick Riordan. **

**Hello, this is The Missing Fangirl. This is a whole new fandom to me, but I've read all of the books (despite my disappointment in BoO, but you don't want to listen to me rant about how I despise Solangelo! Oh no...I already did!). I posted the same thing on my AO3 account, so if you looked, this is the same author. I just put minor changes in this one.**

 **This is not what you think. Probably.**

 **Enjoy!**

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Behind Smiles and Hot Chocolate

-By The Missing Fangirl-

Annabeth walked outside, her heels clacking on the cement sidewalk. She felt chillingly empty. The unforgiving wind blew untamed, the bitter cold biting at her hands that clutched tightly onto the strap of her cross-body purse. She drew her chocolate brown scarf closer to her nose in an attempt to keep warm. Her curly blonde hair blew in the wind. The city was cold in the winter, and the people inhabiting it reflected the coldness very much.

The bright, popping city lights and billboards brought no comfort to the blonde. The parka wrapped around her body seemed like it was retaining no warmth. She shivered violently, her body trying to maintain homeostasis. Knowing she wouldn't be able to walk any further in this wind, she found the nearest coffee shop and entered.

Chimes above the door rang invitingly. Winter blew into the shop and once the door closed, winter was shut out. Annabeth was met with the warmth of the restaurant atmosphere. Chilled to the bone, she saw a chair and took the chance to sit in it. It was a high chair, and her back faced the window. She set her purse onto the round table and buried her head in her hands, absolutely exhausted.

Someone approached her table, causing her to lift her head back up. A young man with intense, sea green eyes and messy black hair was standing close to her table. He was in a black apron and was wearing a black cap. In his hands was a small notepad. He smiled brightly. "Hi, I'm Percy and I will be your waiter for today. Is there anything you'd like?"

Annabeth's breath hitched. Color rose to her cheeks. She had never seen anyone like him before. Her mouth opened and nothing came out at first. Then her vocal cords began to function again. "Hello, Percy. I'm Annabeth. And uh, I think I'd like a hot chocolate with a flavor shot of espresso, please."

"Alright." He scribbled onto the notepad, smiled at her, and left.

The college student stared breathlessly in the barista's wake. Her gray eyes were cloudy and filled with wonder. I've never seen anyone like you before, she thought. _Is this a little crush?_ The young woman had never been in a relationship before, but she knew what love felt like. And this was it. Once she had her eyes set on the sea green eyed beauty, she was determined to make her his.

Percy returned with the hot cocoa, the steam billowing out of the top of the cup. He placed it gently onto the tabletop. "Here you go, Annabeth. Careful, it's hot." He warned with a kind turn of his lips. Then he turned and made to leave.

"Wait," the blonde grabbed his wrist. _You never know if you're ever going to get a chance like this again!_ He turned, surprised. "When does your shift end? Do you want to head out?" She gazed hopefully at him.

The barista checked his watch, "Uh, it ends in about ten minutes. And I don't think I have anythi-" his cell phone rang.

Percy's face flushed. "I, um...I need to take this." The blonde waved him off and smiled. He hurried to the side and answered. Annabeth craned her neck to hear bits and pieces of the conversation. "Hello...it's me," Then the raven haired boy laughed. "Yeah, I know that you're not much of a fan of the song." Pause. "I know you hate a lot of things, but that's one of the things I find cool about you." Another pause. "Oh yeah, I forgot...sorry. Can you pick me up, then? Okay, thanks. I love you! Bye." He hung up the phone.

As he walked back to the intellectual's table, he scrolled through his phone. The college student's smile vanished. She had seen his myriad of happy expressions when talking to the mystery person. _He must've been talking to his girlfriend...he must really like her,_ the thoughts flowed into her head.

The green eyed boy gave her a sad smile. "Sorry, I can't hang out with you. I forgot that I had a dinner date."

"Oh," the blonde sighed. "Your girlfriend?" She had an inkling feeling that he might've been taken.

"Um," Percy rubbed the back of his neck and visibly blushed. "Well, sort of." Annabeth looked at him curiously. "I _do_ have a dinner date, but with my…um, _boyfriend._ "

 _I didn't see that coming!_ As to not seem judgemental she quickly added, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to jump to conclu-"

"That's okay!" He waved off the matter. "But maybe we can hang out some other time!" Then his head turned as he noticed a black motorcycle pull up. "Oh! That's Nico! Well, I'd better head out now. It was nice meeting you Annabeth!" He headed into the faculty room to retrieve his things. The college student heard him punching out of work early. The door swung open and he rushed out with his coat half on. He gave a small wave to the blonde customer and left.

She peeked out the window to see where he was going. The barista skipped towards the figure on the motorcycle. He removed his helmet, revealing black hair that looked like he rolled out of bed and liquid obsidian black eyes. Percy's boyfriend reached into the bag attached to the side of his motorcycle and pulled out a round, blue helmet. He muttered incoherent words at the green eyed boy and they laughed.

 _They look so happy together._

Percy then hopped onto the backseat of the motorcycle, and the two boys put on their helmets. The blue helmeted barista wrapped his arms tightly around his boyfriend's middle and they were off.

Annabeth sighed, mildly disappointed. _Behind those smiles and hot chocolate...I guess people aren't who you make them out to be._ Then she took a sip of hot cocoa, feeling emptier than before she had entered the café.

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 **So what do you think? I've been thinking of making this for a little while, and I had a lot of fun writing it! I'm sorry for you Percabeth fans, but my heart belongs to Percico!** **I'm also sorry for putting a bit of Annabeth-bashing, but I wanted to put in a bittersweet tone. Percico rules supreme in my world!**

 **I hope you liked it! Please review!**

 **~ The Missing Fangirl**


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